Library, 12 The Strand, Beith

The library at 12 The Strand, Beith, is a classical villa dating to around 1830. It is a two-storey and basement building with three bays, exhibiting Grecian architectural details. It stands on a plinth with outer pilasters that support an entablature. The central recessed doorpiece is approached by eight stone steps, featuring Doric columns in antis and flanking pilasters supporting a dentilled cornice. The doorway has a moulded, lugged architrave and a timber panelled door topped with a six-pane letterbox fanlight. Inside, a circa 1890 inner vestibule includes a timber, part-glazed door and surround. The ground floor windows have moulded architraves with rosettes and dentilled cornices, while the first-floor windows have simpler moulded architraves. The exterior is constructed of honey-coloured ashlar sandstone, with vermiculated rustication to the basement. The rear and east gable are harled with raised sandstone margins, whilst the west gable is rubble with raised margins (the harl has been removed).

The windows are timber sash and case with 12 panes of glazing throughout. The roof is covered in grey slates with flat skews, and features corniced ashlar gable stacks. Boundary walls of random rubble construction, originally with roughly hewn copes and now with modern flat coping, enclose the ground on three sides to the west. Later railings are also present.

The interior has been altered around 1890, with more recent modernizations. Original timber panelled doors, shutters, and window embrasures remain. In the hall, there is a bracketed Italianate arch, paired with a plain cornice and timber panelled doors. On the first floor, there is later timber boarding to the dado, a later picture rail, and a moulded foliate cornice.

Located on a prominent, elevated position overlooking Eglinton Street and the centre of Beith, the building’s design is similar to other classical villas on Eglinton Street, including Taynish (4 Barrmill Road), and buildings at numbers 44, 62, 64, 72 and 76. It was restored in the 1980s and is currently occupied by Smith Brothers, Builders. It is marked on the 1858 Ordnance Survey map.